Awards season has finally come to a close after the talent of Hollywood came together for last night’s entertaining Oscar ceremony.

But while the results were a tad predictable (as they usually are!), there were still enough laughs and emotional speeches to keep us film fans satisfied.

In what came as no big surprise to many of us, Steve McQueen’s brutal but brilliant drama 12 Years a Slave overcame strong competition from American Hustle and Gravity to clinch the all-important Best Picture accolade.

British director McQueen dedicated the win to the many people who had endured slavery for centuries, while actor/producer Brad Pitt was amongst those to receive a golden statue for his involvement in producing.

The film also won Best Adapted Screenplay for John Ridley, while Kenyan newcomer Lupita Nyong’o overcame stern pressure from Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle) to win Best Supporting Actress for her role as tragic cotton picker Patsey.

 

But a large majority of the awards were won by Alfonso Cuaró’s spectacular sci-fi blockbuster Gravity, as it cruised to seven gongs, including a Best Director win for Cuaron.

It also managed to win in the categories for Cinematography, Editing, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Visual Effects and Original Score (Steven Price).

Real-life drama Dallas Buyers Club also fared well with three wins, including Best Makeup as well as Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for stars Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto in their respective roles as AIDS-suffering electrician Ron Wooduff and transvestite Rayon.

 

Given his sublime form with screen-work right now, McConaughey’s win was pretty much inevitable, as he triumphed over the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Having swept nearly every award in this race, Cate Blanchett eased her way to a second Oscar win for her role as erratic socialite Jasmine in the Woody Allen-directed drama Blue Jasmine. She managed to hold off talented competition from Amy Adams, Sandra Bullock, Judi Dench and Meryl Streep.

There were also two Oscar wins each for period drama The Great Gatsby (Production Design, Costume Design) and Frozen (Animated Film, Original Song – “Let It Go”) while Spike Jonze secured Best Original Screenplay for his writing of Her.

But it was a bad night for other Best Picture contenders, with leading nominee American Hustle having the rare misfortune of being shutout completely.

It failed to win from any of its ten nominations which included four acting nods and now has the unfortunate status of being one of the biggest nominated films to not win an Oscar.

Sea-faring thriller Captain Phillips (with seven nominations), real-life caper The Wolf of Wall Street and British dramedy Philomena also missed out on recognition.

 

US chat show host Ellen DeGeneres provided many laughs throughout the evening, with one of the main highlights being an epic celebrity selfie that broke Twitter records for the most re-tweeted photo ever.

The night also saw Pink perform a musical tribute to The Wizard of Oz (to commemorate the film’s 75th anniversary) while Bette Midler sang a rendition of her classic song “Wind Beneath my Wings” in tribute to those who had passed away in the last year.

With all that said and done, the full list of winners are…

BEST PICTURE
12 YEARS A SLAVE

BEST DIRECTOR
Alfonso Cuarón, GRAVITY

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, BLUE JASMINE

BEST ACTOR
Matthew McConaughey, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Lupita Nyong’o, 12 YEARS A SLAVE

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jared Leto, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB

 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
12 YEARS A SLAVE (John Ridley)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
HER (Spike Jonze)

 

BEST FILM EDITING
GRAVITY

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
GRAVITY

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
THE GREAT GATSBY

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
THE GREAT GATSBY

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB

BEST SOUND MIXING
GRAVITY

BEST SOUND EDITING
GRAVITY

 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
GRAVITY

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
GRAVITY (Steven Price)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
FROZEN (“Let It Go”)

 

BEST ANIMATED FILM
FROZEN

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
THE GREAT BEAUTY (Italy)

 

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
20 FEET FROM STARDOM

 

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
HELIUM

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
MR. HUBLOT

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
THE LADY IN NUMBER 6: MUSIC SAVED MY LIFE

Thanks once again to those of you who followed this year’s race with me.

Awards season remains an important factor in my film passion, and I look forward to 2015’s one with great anticipation!